Another Sri Lankan journalist attacked

New York, June 1,
2009--The general secretary of the Sri Lanka Working Journalists
Association, Poddala Jayantha, was abducted in Sri Lanka today, beaten, and
dropped by the side of a road in a Colombo suburb, according to a release by
the association and two colleagues who spoke to him.

The attack came on a busy road during rush hour at 5:15 p.m.
Jayantha's colleagues said witnesses at the scene told them six unidentified men
in a white Toyota Hi Ace van with tinted glass windows grabbed Jayantha as he
was walking home in the well-to-do suburb of Nugegoda. The same type of vehicles
have been used to pick up anti-government figures in the past, CPJ
research has found.The
journalist was left on the side of the road about half an hour later.

Jayantha declined to speak directly with CPJ, but two
colleagues who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution told CPJ by
phonethathe was beaten with an iron bar and wooden poles--weapons similar to
those used in other recent attacks on journalists. Jayantha has a broken ankle
and is reportedly severely bruised over much of his body. In an apparent
attempt to humiliate him, his abductors shaved the hair on half his head and
the other half of his beard. News reports say his injuries are not
life-threatening.

"The attack on Poddala Jayantha is part of a trend," said
Bob Dietz, CPJ's Asia program coordinator. "These
attacks are a chilling reminder that journalists remain under attack in Sri Lanka even
after the end of the government's battle with Tamil separatists. We call on
authorities to ensure a thorough and immediate investigation into this assault."

The
Associated Press reported that police spokesman Ranjith Gunasekara
said that "authorities don't know who was behind the attack on Jayantha, who
had long accused the government of using threats to silence criticism in the
media. No arrests have been made."

Sri Lankan journalists came under increased attack after the
government decided to pursue an all-out victory of the secessionist Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2006. Despite the end of the country's decades-long civil
war in May, the climate of intimidation has persisted for journalists. During
much of the fighting, foreign and local reporters were prohibited by both sides
from covering the front line, a policy the government is continuing.